EDDIE Howe has hailed the ‘outstanding’ impact made by ex-Blackburn Rovers striker Josh King in his debut campaign at Bournemouth.

King joined last season’s Championship winners in the summer after turning down a new contract with Rovers.

And after being moved to his favoured central striking position the Norway international has played a starring role in helping the Cherries all but secure their top-flight status.

King is Bournemouth’s seven-goal leading marksman after scoring the winner against his former club Manchester United and also netting in the crucial victories over Newcastle United, Swansea City and Aston Villa.

Cherries boss Howe, who was first alerted to the 24-year-old during his time as manager of Rovers’ rivals Burnley, said: “He has been outstanding, not just in the last section of games but for the majority of the season. He has improved so much and we have been delighted with him.

“We hope there is a lot more to come and he will turn out to be a really good signing for the club for the long term.

“He is a player we like very much and enjoy working with. He wants to improve every day and has benefited from working hard at his game.

“We have been delighted with Josh. It has been a really interesting journey to see him develop this season and I think he is getting better and better.

“We have a really young group of strikers and that is the beauty of our strike-force. Hopefully they will be here for a long time to score a lot of goals for us.”

Rovers received an initial £1.5m for King but the figure could rise to closer to £2m if certain clauses are met.

At Ewood Park King scored eight goals in 62 appearances, 29 of which came from the bench.